Perspectives and positions

Interesting.

Watching the old man leave, Li Wei smiled faintly, a thoughtful look flickering in his eyes.

Li Wei's reason for doing this was simple: he wanted to see how the Empire's upper echelon regarded these supernatural phenomena.

The idea had come from discussions Li Wei had read on forums in the past.

Quite a few games had plots like this-the player, as the protagonist, joined a secret team dedicated to eliminating supernatural threats. Yet these teams all had one guiding principle: keep these supernatural secrets from those in power. The NPCs explained that once those high-ranking figures learned these secrets, they would try to exploit them, acquire tremendous power, and rule the country or the world.

Of course, games like that generally ended exactly that way, with those powerful figures leading armies in an attempt to seize the mysteries the protagonists had concealed and fulfill their own ambitions.

Most players found this perfectly reasonable.

But some scoffed at it, saying it was nothing but a poor person's fantasy, like imagining the emperor farmed with a golden carrying pole. It made no logical sense!

A few players who could not conveniently reveal their identities had put it this way.

Once people reached the upper echelon, what they needed above all was stability, not drastic change. Certainly, supernatural powers looked wonderful, marvelous, and fantastical, but they had one major problem.

The unknown!

Relations between those at the top depended on checks and balances, much like nuclear deterrence. I know what you intend to do, and you know what I intend to do. You know the consequences of my actions, and I know the consequences of yours.

That was precisely why everyone could sit down to negotiate, make deals, and maintain stability and balance.

But supernatural things were different.

For example, it was like a country obtaining a UFO. If nobody knew, that was one thing, but once others found out, the balance would be broken.

Especially between major powers-I don't know what you might get out of it, what you might do, or even what the thing actually is.

Would I meekly let you have your way?

Of course not. Either hand it over so everyone can share it, or nobody gets it!

And contrary to what ordinary people imagined, most of those in power preferred the latter!

For ordinary people, or those who had been excluded and marginalized, the changes such things brought might offer greater benefits. Put bluntly, they had nothing to lose. Things were already this bad-how much worse could they get? Perhaps a change would let them turn their fortunes around.

But for those who already held power, what benefit was there in changing the status quo?

Certainly, supernatural powers were formidable. Perhaps they could let them reign supreme, live forever, and rule everything-but that was only a possibility!

Anyone who managed to reach the top was no gambler! Nobody would willingly stake everything they had, everything their family had, and everything their faction had on something they did not even understand!

Of course, they would not, but those at the end of their rope might seize the opportunity to take a gamble. And so those players offered their answer.

When you encountered something like that, destroy it outright!

I don't know what it is, and I don't want to know. More importantly, I don't want desperate people getting their hands on it and changing the status quo. So eliminating it outright is the best choice.

Naturally, most players disagreed with these remarks, accusing them of trying to whitewash themselves. Those players replied that they had no need to whitewash anything. Even without supernatural powers, they could still eat fine food, drink their fill, and sleep with women. They had nothing in common with losers who could not even find a girlfriend without fantasizing about mystical powers!

Once things reached that point, personal attacks were naturally all that remained.

Li Wei did not necessarily agree with those players' arguments, but the actions of the Empire's upper echelon would at least give him some idea of their intentions.

Li Wei had already guessed that Katie was the daughter of someone high up in the Empire. And judging by how happily she ran around Fog City enjoying herself, her family must have wielded considerable influence. They were not some declining or marginalized household. That meant her family's stance could be taken as the stance of the Empire's upper echelon.

And they had just made that stance very clear.

Find the culprit behind this case and eliminate it!

Good. That's what I want, too.

If they had asked him to find the culprit behind all this and capture it, Li Wei would immediately have found an opportunity to flee as far away as possible.

After all, this was not the only country in the world.

Moreover, the old man's words revealed that they did indeed know Katie had been following him everywhere. But... why did they not intervene?

Li Wei still had his doubts about that. Even if her family spoiled her, today they had seen a zombie that could not be killed without fire, and they knew that whatever he was tracking would certainly be no easy opponent. Did they not care that Katie might turn into a zombie herself one day?

Besides, judging by the soldiers' reactions earlier, they did not seem to be a unit specifically trained to deal with these unusual monsters. Otherwise, they would not have panicked at the sight of an unkillable zombie. But what exactly was going on? Did this world really have no official organization for dealing with supernatural matters, something like the Dragon Group?

Of course, if Li Wei had to guess, he could find similar templates in the novels he had read.

There was the so-called "spiritual energy revival" in urban novels. The premise was that spiritual energy had once been plentiful, then dwindled, rendering practices involving evil spirits, exorcism, and feng shui ineffective. Then, in modern times, spiritual energy revived, and the protagonist gained miraculous powers and so on... Could this world be following the same pattern?

Had these things been absent from this world because spiritual energy had dried up and all the monsters and demons had vanished, only to reappear now that spiritual energy was reviving?

If so, that was plausible enough. But what exactly was spiritual energy in this world? Surely it could not be steam...

Right, and there's Katie...

Li Wei did not know Katie's true identity, nor had he asked, though he felt sure she would tell him if he did. But that would spoil things. For now, Li Wei and the forces behind Katie had reached a tacit understanding: I don't know who you are, and I don't need to know. We've only come together through Katie to do a few things we agree on. It's that simple.

Once that unspoken understanding disappeared, things would become awkward. It was like an emperor traveling incognito. Knowing he was someone important was enough; there was no need to know he was the emperor, or it would become difficult for either side to get along.

Of course, Katie certainly could not be the queen. Li Wei knew that Her Majesty the Queen of this Empire was already in her fifties. There was no way she could pretend to be a teenage girl.

She was not the Child Granny of Mount Heaven, after all.

In any case, Li Wei now had something of an official mandate, which would at least make it much easier for him to act.

It was already late, and by the time everything was settled, it was the middle of the night. Li Wei said goodbye to Inspector Lestrade and headed home to sleep. He had mainly invited the inspector to serve as a witness. After all, this was Inspector Lestrade's territory; he could hardly keep him entirely in the dark. The inspector was equally at a loss when faced with such a monster. He probably would not sleep well tonight either.

As for Katie, she had already left with the old butler.

When he returned home, Erin had already gone to her room to rest as instructed. Li Wei switched off the Elevator, yawned, and flopped onto his bed, intending to enjoy a good night's sleep.

Whatever it is, it can wait until tomorrow!

That was what Li Wei thought. However...

"...Sigh... not again..."

When Li Wei woke early the next morning, he felt both exhausted and exasperated.

The reason was simple: he had had that dream again!

There was the same full moon, the same Clock Tower, the same deserted Fog City, a girl screaming as she fled down the street, and a masked lunatic chasing her with a sharp blade.

Now Li Wei did not even need to run. The moment he heard a scream, he would be transported straight to the girl's side, where he would kill that bizarre lunatic.

The process was much the same as it had been with Betty, but there was one problem.

The dream did not happen just once!

Every time Li Wei killed the monster, he would hear a scream from somewhere else. Then he would automatically teleport there and encounter another girl being hunted, along with the masked monster pursuing her...

What exasperated Li Wei even more was that he did not know any of these girls!

Some looked as though they came from good families, while others looked quite ordinary, or even impoverished. Their ages varied as well. The youngest were only seven or eight, while the oldest looked to be in their twenties.

And Li Wei could guarantee that he had never seen them before. Yet now he kept appearing in their dreams to help them deal with that masked freak!

What on earth is that thing?

Li Wei had considered trying to communicate with it, but the masked freak seemed more like an NPC locked into a rigid script, capable only of repeating the same few lines. And even when Li Wei wanted to question the girls, a scream from somewhere else would "drag him away" before he could speak.

As a result, after an entire night, Li Wei felt even more exhausted than he had during his daytime investigation. It was practically like running a ten-kilometer marathon.

What on earth is going on?

Li Wei was utterly bewildered. If he had only had the dream once, that would have been one thing. But he had been having the same dream for several days now, and each night it became more troublesome than the last. At first, he had only needed to help Betty. Now he could no longer keep count of the hundreds of girls he had saved.

Although Li Wei had considered standing aside to see what would happen if those girls were killed by the freak, he could not bring himself to leave them alone. After all, the terror in their agonized screams as the freak chased them was genuine. As a human being, he felt that simply watching without doing anything would be indefensible.

Li Wei also suspected that the Underground Temple he had visited that day might be responsible. After all, those strange dreams had only begun afterward.

But what puzzled Li Wei was that Katie had gone there too. Why was she not having dreams?

Li Wei had sounded Katie out indirectly, but she said she felt perfectly healthy, had a great appetite, and slept soundly until morning. She had not had any strange dreams at all.

He had also returned to the little chapel beneath the Pink Lady afterward, but still found nothing. Li Wei had even sat in the chair out of curiosity... yes, nothing had happened.

How strange...

Working nonstop in both reality and his dreams every day had left Li Wei so exhausted that he was listless even over breakfast.

"Sir, have you been feeling very tired lately?"

Seeing the state Li Wei was in, Erin asked somewhat anxiously. After all, as his maid, she also had to look after her master's health.

"Should you see a doctor?"

"No need."

Li Wei waved a hand.

"It's just that my dreams have been wearing me out lately..."

"Your dreams have been wearing you out?"

"That's right."

As Li Wei ate his bread and looked at Erin, something suddenly occurred to him, and he asked a question.

"By the way, Erin, have you ever heard a story about a masked freak who chases girls through the streets late at night?"

Everyone who appeared in his dreams was female, and all of them were young women or little girls. It suddenly struck Li Wei that perhaps Erin could provide a clue.

"Huh?"

At Li Wei's question, Erin froze for a moment. Then she looked at him and spoke.

"Isn't that the Courtesan Killer?"